President Muhammadu Buhari has advised men to be guided in protecting and promoting democracy in Nigeria by ensuring full participation in the forthcoming elections in 2023. 

The president made the call on Friday while felicitating with men particularly in Nigeria, as the world celebrates another International Men’s Day (IMD), which places the spotlight on health issues, modeling and leadership roles, sacrifice, and other multi-layered responsibilities of men, which include respect for women. Buhari, who acknowledged the strong, influential, and significant position of women in building the country over the years, with evidence in their rising profiles, implored men to adhere to the regulations of the electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and explore redress in the courts.

The president, while speaking on the theme of this year’s IMD, “Men Leading By Example,” called on men to take the front row in safeguarding and protecting national assets and shun acts of violence like targeting the offices and stores of the electoral body, which he said only added to the cost of governance and projected the country as “unstable.”President Buhari, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, noted that every citizen’s voice and vote mattered in the choice of Nigeria’s leadership and governance.

Ada Peter